Dear all,

After my too-short trip to Kenya to attend the 1st Ethnoornithology
Conference at the National Museum of Kenya on 22 October I traveled
back to Johannesburg in South Africa and then on to Cape Town. I
stayed at the well-recommended All Africa House on the campus of the
Cape Town University.

I went to South Africa to catch up with Doug Harebottle, Les Underhill
and others from the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African
Ornithology, on the Cape Town University campus (see the 'Fitztitute'
website at: http://www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za/) and to give a short
presentation on Ethnoornithology at the Niven Library at the Fitztitute.

The presentation went well and I had time to have a good look at the
Niven Library - many thanks to Margaret Sandwith, the Librarian at the
Niven. She directed me towards some great resources in what must be
the premier ornithological library in Africa. I think I've got enough
material for a presentation on early southern African
ethnoornithological research for next year's Pan African
Ornithological Congress ('the PAOC'). Mark Cocker has also supplied me
with some information and references that will be useful.

One reason I wanted to meet up with staff at the Fitztitute was to
discuss progress of a proposed symposium on African ethnoornithology
at the PAOC.

The Twelfth Pan-African Ornithological Congress will take place at the
Goudini Spa Conference Centre, near Cape Town, from Sunday evening 7
to Friday afternoon 12 September 2008. It will be hosted by the Avian
Demography Unit and the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African
Ornithology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and by the
AP Leventis Ornithological Research Institute at the University of
Jos, Nigeria. These are the three university-linked ornithological
research groups in Africa. PAOC12 will be administered by the
University of Cape Town. See the PAOC homepage at:
http://paoc12.adu.org.za/index.htm.

The outline for the Ethnoornithology symposium is on the conference
web-page and reads as follows: "Ethno-ornithology in Africa: bird
knowledge, culture and conservation - In recent years Ethnoornithology
has emerged as a valuable source of ethnobiological research, partly
for its potential to be able to make a valuable contribution to bird
conservation and also as a means of empowering people of all cultures
preserve, re-examine and discover the connections between individuals,
groups and cultures and the birds that people hunt, venerate and
cherish. In this seminar it is proposed to examine, through a variety
of oral presentations, current ethnoornithological research in Africa,
future directions for proposed research and support and professional
development, particularly in the area of methodology, will also be
considered."

I'll issue a Call for Papers in the next few weeks - so if you are
interested drop a line through the website.

I'd tried to get onto a pelagic trip out of Cape Town while I was
there (thanks to Ross Wanless from the Fitztitute for your efforts)but
look forward to getting on a boat as part of the PAOC field trips.

Thats all for now - I'm off for my lunch - my next post will be on
prospects for the coming year and some of the exciting events and
projects that are coming up.

Cheers and best to you all,

Robert Gosford
ERSG moderator